the unsung heroines of sports history

I started the Instagram account @theunsungheroines two years ago. The stories are about women disqualified from tennis tournaments because of the color of their skin, women who changed their physical appearances to pass as men so they could stand up to bat and hit balls into the outfield, the first black woman to win a gold medal who returned home and was congratulated publicly by the white mayor, but would not shake her hand, because “That’s just the way it was at that time.” I don’t think I quite understood the absence of women’s stories when I was a kid. It’s not until I started this project that I, someone that labels themselves a proud feminist came to the uncomfortable realization that women’s stories have always been there: they just were not getting the same sort of soap box as the guys . I encourage ANYONE to send along stories about women that did what they loved to do, play the game.

DISCLAIMER: The photo's from Instagram have all been gathered through libraries, email, magazines, etc...I do my best to credit the photographer when mentioned but if one of your photos is up here uncredited, send me an email and I will happily credit you.